Rooted Dev Log: One Last Update for the Current Alpha

Over the last two dev logs I said the public alpha needed an update to follow the studio onto its new infrastructure, and that I would improve a handful of things while I was in there. That update is done. So instead of the usual weekly format, this is a full tour of what is in it, and of why it is most likely the last one for this alpha.

The short version: the alpha now runs on a current engine generation and talks to the new infrastructure, it went through a real performance pass, a few interface elements were brought closer to the new build, the whole game is playable in 25 languages, and a long list of small frictions is gone. It is still not a content patch: the world, the systems and the gameplay are the ones you know. Everything below is about the frame around them.

A current engine and one infrastructure

The alpha was still running on the engine version it was originally built on. It now runs on Unreal Engine 5.8, the same engine generation as the new build. That jump is what made the rest of this update possible: a current rendering path, current tooling, and one aging setup less to maintain.

The infrastructure side was covered in the last article: accounts, alpha keys, the NDA, bug reports, crash reports and the in-game news all go through the new setup, and the old server is retired. Two additions since then. Crash reports now come back with enough context that I can usually read the cause straight from the report. And the NDA screen is presented in your own language, all 25 of them, with the English text staying the contractual reference.

Performance

This pass stayed deliberately focused, since the deep work belongs to the new build, but it targets the things you actually feel:

• Shader caches ship with the build. The game now precompiles its shaders up front instead of hitching the first time a material appears on screen. First sessions especially should stutter a lot less.
• The far world got cheaper. Distant scenery now switches to proper long-distance stand-ins, vegetation and buildings included. Before this, large parts of the forest simply stayed fully loaded kilometers away.
• Vegetation detail scales with distance. The three most common bushes in the world only existed at full detail and accounted for close to three quarters of all rendered geometry. They now step down as they get farther away.
• Smaller wins. Lighter windows at distance, leaner collision data, and saner first-launch video defaults.

Some interface changes

I tried to bring a few elements of the new build's interface workflow into this one. Time being what it is, I could not take it very far, so this is not a full interface pass. You will still notice changes here and there: the quick-use wheel now reads the way it works (tap for the default action, hold to open the wheel, release to confirm), the alpha guide is a proper in-game manual that stops opening on its own at every launch, a small row bottom-left reminds you of the useful keys, pickup notifications stack instead of piling up banners, and the bug report no longer leaves your inputs frozen after closing it.

Playable in 25 languages

Every text in the game is now translated into 25 languages: menus, HUD, the guide, loading tips, and the NDA. The fonts were extended to cover Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Cyrillic scripts, and a language selector sits in both the main menu and the pause menu. If a text still shows up in English in your language, that is a bug, and the in-game bug report exists exactly for that.

Also in this update

• The session list no longer exposes raw account identifiers, shows the host's country, and two bugs that made sessions un-joinable are fixed. Players joining or leaving your session now show up in the notification feed.
• The drone always shows its exit key, gets a small radar pointing back to the pilot, and its zoom was tamed.
• The flashlight casts proper soft shadows.
• A pass on wildlife territories, so animals hold to their areas the way they were meant to.
• The game's window and taskbar icon is now the Rooted logo instead of the engine default. Now THAT is an update.

Most likely the last one

Unless something in this update needs a fix, this is the last planned update for the current alpha. The new build is where Rooted's development lives, it has been for months, and it now has all of my attention again. The point of everything above was to leave the alpha in the best state it can be while that work continues: a current engine, a single infrastructure, your language, and fewer rough edges between you and the game.

That's the alpha's send-off from the development side!

Mat